


Fine Print

by silver_drip



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 09:22:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14615172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_drip/pseuds/silver_drip
Summary: IW spoilers.Strange's bargain was hastily made.





	Fine Print

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with this story, but I might as well post it and let you be the judge.

* * *

 

He’s lived through it three times now. The splendor of the universe blossoming with new life, only for it to be cut down at the waist.

The first time it had happened, Peter had disintegrated in his arms. Tony’s heart had shattered. Peter had been more than just his protégé, he had embodied all of Tony’s hopes for the future. Peter had been selfless, willing to take responsibility for his actions, and so damn kind.

Gone in an instant.

Tony had stared on in disbelief—ash falling through his fingers.

After that, time had gone forward at a gruelingly slow pace, suffocating as he traveled back to Earth, praying to a God he didn’t believe in that the damage hadn’t been universal.

He wasn’t so lucky.

Tony moved in a daze, the taste of ash never leaving his tongue. No platitudes fell from his lips, no words of hope or defeat.

He felt frozen, and after taking a bullet to his head by a man who’d lost faith in both the Avengers and the world, he realized how true that was.

Because Strange made a deal, but hadn’t read the fine print.

Tony’s life for the Time Stone.

It had seemed like a foolish, yet simple trade.

But when Thanos spared Tony’s life he also gave him immortality.

The world raged at the realization. Where so many had died, Tony had lived and become immortal.

A bargain he didn’t make, but one he’d be blamed for anyway.

He knew that if he didn’t do something they would tear his flesh from bone, rend him into a pulpy mess that would congeal back together into his form, only for them to eviscerate him again.

Tony fled, using the Milano to go where no one knew him. He couldn’t escape the devastation though. Thanos had wiped out half of the universe. No corner was left untouched.

He scraped together a place for himself, hoping no one would find out who he was.

Time became abstract then. Centuries passing as he wallowed and screamed at himself for living and Strange and Thanos for doing this to him.

After a while he forgot, willfully and with great pains.

But then history repeated itself. The universe grew, and Thanos cut it down.

Tony laughed hysterically, disbelief and dread mixing in his gut.

He found a drug that let him sleep for years on end, but eventually he grew immune to it.

Whispers about him renewed, but only as a legend—a dark tale of greed, trading half the universe for immortality. Tony nearly believed it. The only silver lining was that no one remembered his name or how he looked.

In a fit of longing he returned to Earth—only to find the humans had evolved into something he didn’t recognize. He felt more outside of life than ever before.

Tony fell asleep curled in a weeping ball. This was his punishment for failure. A punishment that wasn’t half as cruel as it should be.

The third time it happened, Tony was completely numb, only the sting of him gnawing on his bottom lip coming through.

The universe’s panic was just as potent the first two times.

Tony sunk to the bottom of an ocean that had been renamed too many times for him to remember.

Maybe there he could find peace.


End file.
